Study 411 Boat People To Assess

Impact Of Illegal Haitian Influx

If Gov. Lawton Chiles needs up-to-date ammunition for his lawsuit against the federal government, he ought to keep tabs on the 411 Haitian boat people who made it to South Florida on April 22.

The documented, cumulative costs to taxpayers of providing a safe haven for this particular group of unfortunate people should supply dramatic evidence for Chiles' contention that the feds' failure to control the national borders is imposing an unfair burden on the people of Florida.

These numbers certainly would be more specific and irrefutable than Chiles' guesstimate that the state has spent $1.5 billion since 1988 on education, medical care, law enforcement and other services for illegal aliens.

Despite the Clinton administration's disingenuous policy of intercepting boat people at sea and returning them to Port-au-Prince for "the necessary paperwork," the 411 aboard the freighter - the largest single group of Haitians ever to arrive in the U.S. - received a very different reception.

After being discovered drifting off Broward County, they were taken by the Coast Guard to Miami's Krome Detention Center for processing. Acting with unusual haste, the Immigration and Natural Service Wednesday announced the following disposition of their cases:

-- Twenty-four were released April 29, including 10 pregnant women, 2 women with small children and 12 unattended children.

-- Another 35 women and children were released in recent days to friends and relatives.

-- Eight men were sent to Broward County jails on suspicion of involvement in a smuggling operation.

-- One walked away from a Miami hospital and disappeared.

-- Eight are receiving treatment for tuberculosis and will be quarantined at Krome for the time being.

-- Thirteen tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS and will be placed with organizations and relatives.

The remaining 322 Haitians will be released within days, with about 200 expected to remain in South Florida and others going to relatives or sponsors in other states. All will be free to apply for political asylum and permanent residency. Most are eligible for cash and medical assistance from local, state and federal agencies.

It shouldn't be difficult to monitor the public cost of assisting these desperate refugees from a brutal and corrupt military dictatorship. It also would be instructive to note how many eventually join the work force and become taxpayers themselves. Once the net cost is determined, state accountants could multiply it by the 345,000 illegal aliens the INS estimates presently reside in Florida (including the 2,700 being held in state prisons at an annual bill of $60 million). Then the governor would have a credible figure on which to base his claim.

Even better, the administration could scrap the cynical policy that punishes Haiti's poor while enriching their oppressors and take forceful action to install a government people would not risk their lives to flee.